Toyota trials plug-in hybrid Prius in UK

I guess the Prius will be first, but like they said, "The plug-in Prius is expected to arrive shortly before General Motors' Chevrolet Volt, which could give it something of a competitive edge in the battle for market share. With the strongest brand in the hybrid marketplace and a reputation for building dependable vehicles, however, Toyota doesn't need that first-to-market boost as much as the Volt might.

I bet GM is scared off their Arses in competing against the ICON Prius!!!.

I guess the Prius will be first, but like they said, "The plug-in Prius is expected to arrive shortly before General Motors' Chevrolet Volt, which could give it something of a competitive edge in the battle for market share. With the strongest brand in the hybrid marketplace and a reputation for building dependable vehicles, however, Toyota doesn't need that first-to-market boost as much as the Volt might.

I bet GM is scared off their Arses in competing against the ICON Prius!!!.

The Prius would be a plug in series parallel hybrid. GM is working on a series parallel Saturn Vue. I am not sure which one of them will reach the American market first. Also, Mercedes has a plug in slated for intro in Europe next year wich is also series parallel. I believe that all of them have a limited range of about 8 miles on electricity alone. However, there will be contraints on speed and acceleration during electric only operation.
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I think this constraint will apply to all cars running on battery power, including the much ballyhooed Wonder Car. The use of accessories like AC. Heater, hilly terrain, outside temperatures, etc. will all have a big effect on the performance of these electrical powered cars. I think GM has way over hyped the wonder car concept and will lead to alot of very disillusioned Volt fans.

artie:I think this constraint will apply to all cars running on battery power, including the much ballyhooed Wonder Car. The use of accessories like AC. Heater, hilly terrain, outside temperatures, etc. will all have a big effect on the performance of these electrical powered cars. I think GM has way over hyped the wonder car concept and will lead to alot of very disillusioned Volt fans.

Some day the Volt will make you eat them words. <img src='/_siteconfigs/_global/images/community/bbcode/mad.gif'>
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The Volt is not a hybrid. Now a comparison to the Saturn Vue would be more of a comparison.
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artie:I think this constraint will apply to all cars running on battery power, including the much ballyhooed Wonder Car. The use of accessories like AC. Heater, hilly terrain, outside temperatures, etc. will all have a big effect on the performance of these electrical powered cars. I think GM has way over hyped the wonder car concept and will lead to alot of very disillusioned Volt fans.

The contraint I am talking about is battery capacity and motor size. Series hybrids such as the Prius or Vue have small electric motors and puny batteries because they share a mechanical power path with the ICE, so they are limited in the amount of current and power that can be utilized to motivate the vehicle in ELECTRIC ONLY mode before the ICE kicks in.

The Volt, with a larger battery and motor, can meet all expected demands in ELECTRIC ONLY mode till 30% SOC is reached. After that, the ICE and battery work in tandem as a series electric drive much like a train. The battery acts as a reservoir to allow regenerative recovery, thus allowing fuel milage numbers similar to full hybrids. Who knows? If bateries get better, maybe we will see trains with battery cars. Right now, trains take the regenerative energy of E braking and dump it as waste heat in electric elements.

The biggest problem I see in the list you cited is AC.

On a side note, the Prius design can easily evolve to an EREV by upsizing the batteries and motor, and eliminating the planetary power splitter. Toyota felt that large capacity batteries were not ready in this round. Artie, I think we can agree on one thing. Toyota is very sharp at adapting their manufacturing to market changes.

I am not saying that either the Prius plug in or Vue will be bad. They are different from the Volt.
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